The document discusses challenges museums face in being truly inclusive and participatory. It notes that while museums value personal contributions, they still maintain ownership and control over interpretive decisions. Museums celebrate in-depth work with small groups but worry about including enough people. There is a tension between museums appropriating people's histories versus professional standards of accessibility. The document raises questions about how museums can make decisions in democratic and representative ways, and explores alternative models of community development, activism, and non-hierarchical networks.

1. HorizontalMuseums
Group for Education in Museums Conference
University of Leeds
Keynote 4th September 2013
Helen Graham
Centre for Critical Studies in Museums, Galleries and
Heritage
University of Leeds

2. Partnership
Participation
Co-curation
Co-Creation

3. 1.
2.
20133.
4.
5.
1. Hopper-Greenhill et al (2000) Museums and Social Inclusion: THE GLLAM Report. See http://bit.ly/14pcVLU
2. Dodd et al (2002) A Catalyst for Change: The Social Impact of the Open Museum. See http://bit.ly/1dNyY8g
3. Nina Simon (2010) The Participatory Museum. See http://www.participatorymuseum.org/
4. The Happy Museum project. See http://www.happymuseumproject.org/
5. Paul Hamlyn Trust, Our Museum project, see http://ourmuseum.ning.com/
2000

4. 1. 3.
2.
4.
1. Museum Association (2013) ‘Museums Change Lives’ . See http://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-
change-lives
2. Healthy Attendance: The Impact of Cultural Engagement and Sports Participation on Health and Satisfaction
with life in Scotland 2013 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/08/9956
3. Jonathan Jones (2010) ‘Museum funding cuts: A danger to democracy’, Guardian Unlimited.
4. Richard Sandell and Eithnie Nightingale (2012) Museums, Equality and Social Justice. London Routledge.

5. 1. Bernadette Lynch (2010) Whose Cake is it Anyway?’ Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
2. Laurajane Smith and Emma Wateron (2010) Heritage, Communities and Archaeology. Duckworth.

6. Equal partnership
Sharing authority
Sustainable relationships
Contributors not just audience

7. Museum values personal contributions to collections
but sees this as a transfer of ownership from the
individual to the museum
Museum wants to work with individuals and groups
to co-curate but key interpretative decision remain
with the museum
In depth work with small groups of people being
celebrated by the museum but also worried about –
are we including enough people or the right people?

8. How should
decisions about
heritage be made?:
Co-designing a
research project
AHRC Connected Communities Programme, Co-Design Development Grant
The funding was broken into two phases. In Phase 1 (February-May 2013) we
designed the research. Phase 2 begins in July 2013 and runs for 12 months.
http://codesignheritage.wordpress.com/

9. Martin Bashforth, York’s Alternative History and
Radical Historian
Mike Benson, Director, Bede’s World
Tim Boon, Head of Research and Public History,
Science Museum
Karen Brookfield, Deputy Director, Strategy,
Heritage Lottery Fund
Peter Brown, Director, York Civic Trust
Danny Callaghan, Independent Consultant and
Co-ordinator for Prescot Townscape Heritage
Initiative: ‘Building Stories’ and ‘The Potteries
Tile Trail’ (HLF All Our Stories).
Richard Courtney, University of Leicester
Alex Hale, Royal Commission of Ancient and
Historic Monuments Scotland
Paddy Hodgkiss, Riccall Community Archive
Rebecca Madgin, University of Leicester
Paul Manners, Director, National Co-ordinating
Centre for Public Engagement
Jennifer Timothy, Senior Building Conservation
Officer, Leicester City Council
Rachael Turner, MadLab and ‘The Ghosts of St
Pauls’ project (HLF All Our Stories)

10. Blocks
Sticking
points
What makes decision
making about heritage
hard?

11. Fringe workshop: Power and
Freedom of Self in Museums?
4th September, 6.30-7.30
St George’s Room, University House
University of Leeds
Mike Benson and Kathy Cremin,
Bede’s World
Mike and Kathy will share their approaches to creating museums
where people are free to lead at every level. They will reflect on
ways of working with volunteers and partners collaboratively
developed at Ryedale Folk Museum and Bede’s World which draw
on tried-and-tested cooperative models, founded on giving space
for individual autonomy and action.

12. Museum values personal contributions to collections but seeing
this as a transfer of ownership from the individual to the museum
Museum wants to work with individuals and groups to co-curate
but key interpretative decision remain with the museum
In depth work with small groups of people being celebrated by the
museum but also worried about – are we including enough people
or the right people?
Museums appropriate people’s personal histories
Museums take control behind people’s backs
Museums dismiss individual people’s contributions

13. Museum values personal contributions to collections but seeing
this as a transfer of ownership from the individual to the museum
Museum wants to work with individuals and groups to co-curate
but key interpretative decision remain with the museum
In depth work with small groups of people being celebrated by the
museum but also worried about – are we including enough people
or the right people?
The museum needs to ask individuals to sign
copyright forms to ensure the institution can make
the oral histories can make items available to
everyone
Museums draw on professional standards to ensure
high quality and accessible visitor-focused
exhibitions
Museums asks if they are working fairly, equally and
inclusively with the range of individuals and groups in
their local area.

14. A meta-
?
‘on behalf of…’

15. ‘the people’
‘demos/democracy’
Voting
Elected
representatives
Delegated
authority
(As visitors)
‘Represent all’
‘Be accessible to all’
Museum

16. ‘the people’
‘demos/democracy’
Voting
Elected
representatives
Delegated
authority
(As visitors)
‘Represent all’
‘Be accessible to all’
Museum

17. Community development /
action research
Alterglobalisation movement /
Occupy
1.
2.
3.
4.
1. Alison Gilchrist (2009) The Well-Connected Community. Bristol: Policy Press.
2. Danny Burns (2007) Systemic Action Research: A Strategy for Whole Systems Change. Bristol: Policy Press.
3. Marianne Maeckelbergh (2009) The Will of the Many: How the Alterglobalisation Movement is Changing the Face of
Democracy. London: Pluto, p. 108
4. David Graeber (2013) The Democracy Project: A history, A crisis, A movement. New York: Spiegel & Grau

18. 1. See the museum from the outside
(…the museum isn’t the centre of the world)
THE
MUSEUM

19. THE
MUSEUM

20. 2. There is no such things as ‘everybody’
(…but there are people and all sorts of
relationships and networks)

21. THE
MUSEUM
NEW NODE

22. 3. The ends don’t justify the means
(…and the means really matter)

23. 4. It’s about how decisions are made not (only)
who makes them

24. 5. The dangers of networking (or why we
need the two types of horizontal practices)

25. 6. (Maybe) the future can take care of itself

26. New forms of
democracy
Inequality
Outsourcing
Volunteers
not paid staff
Equality?
Diversity?
Activism
‘People’ /
‘power’

27. Keep in touch with the ‘how
should decisions about heritage be
made project?’
Blog:
http://codesignheritage.wordpress
.com/
JISC Mailing list:
http://bit.ly/YWWnXP
Email: h.graham@leeds.ac.uk